Computer-room air-conditioning (CRAC) systems are utilized in the computer industry to provide cooling and other forms of air “conditioning” to the computer room to cool heat-generating computer components (e.g., servers) in the computer room and to otherwise provide an environment suitable for and non-damaging to the computer components.
Cooling gas provided by the air-conditioning unit can be directed through passages under a raised floor of the computer room and then through floor-tile vents into the computer room (also referred to as a “data center room”). Each floor-tile vent is positioned proximate to one or more computer components such that cool gas is directed from each vent preferentially toward one or more computer components. The amount of air supplied through the vents to a particular component (e.g., a heat load) in the computer room is a function of three variables: (1) the available air pressure below the tile vent; (2) the air pressure above the tile vent; and (3) the aerodynamic properties of the vent, itself. The heat loads in the computer room, however, are often not homogeneous in terms of position and/or time.